"BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT."

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13332, 26 January 1909, Page 7

"BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT."

The new piece, "The Brooking of the Drought," produced last night by the Bland Holt Company at tho Theatre Royal, though greatly i__w-_or in literary and dramatic construction, to "The "White Heather," was attractive from its admit-Me stage setting. The piece is pure melodrama, with a considerable amount of dialoguo and some excellent scenes- Of heee- the bush fire in the second act was wonderfully r___.i.tic, and some of the stage pictures, notably that ot" Mot-mans Bay and tho station out back, were excellent. The part of Olive, played with much artistic ability and success by Miss Ha trie Ireland, is one which h_s the sympathies of the audience against it all through It is therefore the more creditable to the actress sustaining it that it *•__ made to stand out sii strongly. Miss _re_a__, whilst infusinss all the power requisite into the ponirtrayal of tho character, never exaggerated. Mies Jennie Pollock was adsmiraJ-l- as Marjorie Galloway. Miss Bessie Mayer showed how clever an actress she _• by he* excellent performonce as Judith Cs_k>way, and Miss Dorothy Brunton scored a decided' success in the character of the. waiting maid. Mr Styan, for once forsaking the path of villainy which he baa so successfully trod ctiirinp: tho -other portion of the season, achieved quite a hit as Joe Galloway, the representative of virtue triumphant nt last. It was an excellent bit of character-act-ing, the part being wonderfully realisvtic in its fidelity to the type of man representex*. Mr Bland Holt pervaded the piece in a breezy sort of way as Damper, whose mission in life appeared to be to «id those in distress. It is a part which hardly allowed &o much scope for humorous acting as those in which Mr Holt has previously appeared ; but, he made it vv-ry amusing, particularly in his many attempts to locate tlie exact spot of the decease of his mythical uncle. Mr _l_xw_ll was—though at times inclined to be somewhat stagey —a good Tom Wab-lciby, and Mr L_s_e Woods played Gilbert, the prodigal son, with a fair amount of success. Mr Charles Brown made a good de_l of the character part of Freddy Yates, the coloured muSichall artist having a strong'rosemblanco to Mr Charles Pope, of Pope and iiayles. The other characters, of "v*44ch there were a great many, were efficiently tiled. As with all Mr Holt's productions., tho piece was admirably put on the stage. It will be repeated this evening.